The United Kingdom has revised its global tariff strategy, laying out for Canada and other trading partners the rates that will apply to their exports as of Jan. 1, 2021 — and in the process, setting out Britain’s starting position for future bilateral trade talks.

The new list published Tuesday replaces a temporary regime announced a year ago that would have cut tariffs on nearly all (an estimated 95 per cent) of what the U.K. imports — a hastily-developed scheme designed to the cushion the blow to British consumers of a sudden no-deal Brexit that, in March of 2019, appeared possible.

Under the new regime, Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff rates higher than zero will apply to about half of the products imported by the U.K. from around the world, or about 60 per cent of the value of its global trade, once it completes its transition out of the European Union trading bloc.

The U.K. continues to negotiate the final terms of this exit.

Many trading partners, Canada included, want clarity on exactly how future trade between the EU and its former member will work before proceeding with their own bilateral talks with the U.K.

Canada has had preferential trading terms with the U.K., its third-biggest export market, under its Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the EU.

The CETA will continue to apply until the end of this year, but beyond that, the terms of Canada–U.K. trade are uncertain.

“We’ve always paid particular attention to what is happening in the U.K., and of course they are in discussions with the European Union on their agreement,” International Trade Minister Mary Ng told CBC News Tuesday.

“We want to make sure that any negotiations are in the interests [of] and benefit … our Canadian exporters,” she said, adding that the U.K. is a “key trading partner” and the Canadian government expects to have more to say in the days to come.

What to expect if Canada has no deal

Tuesday’s tariff list adds more certainty to key industries’ preparations for the end of the year, when they begin to trade with Britain as an independent partner.

The British government considers its new list a simplified and more liberal version of the European Union’s MFN rates, which set out the tariffs that apply when World Trade Organization members trade with each other.

Canada has enjoyed better access to the EU market than that since September 2017, when the CETA took effect.

At first glance, the tariffs on many of Canada’s essential natural resource exports to the U.K. — gold, diamonds, uranium, other energy exports — remain at zero or are extremely low.

But some of Canada’s hard-fought gains in the CETA would be lost. Tariffs on popular Canadian seafood products, cut to zero under CETA, would be re-applied in the U.K. market, according to this list.

A new U.K. tariff list would re-impose tariffs on Canadian seafood that were cut to zero under the CETA deal. (AP)

The U.K. is maintaining tariffs on lamb, beef and poultry to protect its domestic farmers. It also will continue to maintain a ten per cent tariff on imported cars, something that was cut under the CETA.

In general, the new list aims to reduce tariffs on inputs for British supply chains, so it does not deal a blow to the manufacturing sector in this already-uncertain Brexit period.

It has cut tariffs on identifiable consumer products that may come from Canada in the future, like Christmas trees. It also cut tariffs on over 100 products that support a green economy, from LED lamps to bicycle tire tubes.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.K. became one of several countries that also have cut tariffs temporarily on essential medical products and supplies.

Analysis continues on all sides to determine what the overall impact on Canada–U.K. trade would be if a bilateral trade agreement is not concluded between now and Jan.1.

Build on CETA, or replace it?

Both sides say they want to keep trading on preferential terms. That means Canada and the U.K. have two options in the coming months.

They could agree to “roll over” the terms of the CETA and come to an understanding on how it might continue to apply to trade between the two countries, with some minor adjustments. Beyond its preferential tariff rates, the 2017 CETA deal also removed other non-tariff barriers to trade and set out common standards that both sides may want to preserve.

The two sides also might opt to start from scratch and negotiate an entirely new “bespoke” arrangement between themselves, reflecting the unique aspects of their trading relationship separate from the EU priorities that drove the CETA talks.

Negotiations toward this latter option could take longer and become more complicated — at a time when British negotiators already are being stretched thin by multiple trade negotiations fundamental to the U.K.’s economic future.

Even though talks could not officially start until Brexit was complete, Canada was in discussions with the U.K. about rolling over the terms of the CETA. The two sides had nearly reached an agreement in early 2019 when Canada was caught off-guard by Britain’s sudden move to cut most of tariffs to zero.

The Canadian government then stepped back from these talks, uncertain it wanted to continue to offer the same concessions to the U.K. if, in fact, the entire world was about to have access to the same liberalized tariffs.

Alberta recorded 40 new cases and no new deaths, bringing its figures to more than 7,100 cases and 146 deaths. This was a sharp uptick from a day earlier, when the province reported just seven new cases. More than 6,600 people are deemed recovered.

Saskatchewan reported one new case, for a total of 650 cases. Eleven people have died so far, and more than 610 are considered recovered.

No new cases

For the second day in a row, all of the Atlantic provinces saw no new cases or deaths on Saturday. Nova Scotia has the most number of cases — 1,058, including 61 deaths. Most of New Brunswick’s 136 cases have recovered as it battles an outbreak in the Campbellton region — one person in the province has died.

Newfoundland and Labrador has two active cases, and is set to allow travel within the province starting June 8 (Monday). Prince Edward Island has seen no new infections since all 27 of its cases have recovered.

The Northwest Territories and the Yukon remain COVID-19 free, with all their cases having recovered weeks ago. Nunavut remains the only region in Canada that hasn’t seen a case yet.

The demonstrations follow days of protests across the U.S. over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in Minneapolis, Minn. A police officer kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.

Many are calling for police reform and an end to systemic racism.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam on Friday urged demonstrators to “take care of themselves” and follow public health guidelines such as physical distancing as much as possible and using hand sanitizers.

Read on to see what’s happening around Canada.

Toronto

Thousands demonstrated in two separate protests in Toronto against anti-black racism. The first protest began at Nathan Phillips Square, while the second began at Trinity Bellwoods Park.

Twanna Lewis, a Toronto resident at Trinity Bellwoods Park, said she was protesting for the first time on Saturday because she felt the need to take a stand for people who are voiceless. She has an 18-year-old black son, cousins, uncles and a brother.

“It’s 2020 and we need to be doing better,” Lewis told CBC Toronto. “It’s a shame that we have to be having this conversation in this day and age, when we think that we have gone so far.”

WATCH | Hand sanitizer, masks handed out at Toronto protest:

CBC’s Lorenda Reddekopp reports from inside a peaceful protest march Saturday where hand sanitizer and masks were being handed out 3:09

At Nathan Phillips Square, demonstrators chanted, held placards and posters, and listened to speakers. Then the protesters marched to the U.S. consulate and onward to Yonge-Dundas Square.

“I can’t breathe,” the crowd chanted at one point at Nathan Phillips Square, in a reference to some of Floyd’s last words before his death on May 25.

People held up signs that read “No Justice No Peace” and “Yes it’s here too Ford.” Ontario Premier Doug Ford had said Canada doesn’t have the “systemic, deep roots” of racism as the U.S.

WATCH | Protesters, police speak at Toronto demonstration:

Action for injustice group behind march through downtown: CBC’s Natalie Nanowski reports from the scene at Nathan Phillips Square 4:01

St. John’s

Thousands of people kneeled on the lawn of Confederation Building in St. John’s during a rally in support of the Black Lives Matter.

The rally, organized by newly established Black Lives Matter NL, featured speeches and performances from members of the area’s black community sharing their own stories of racism.

Crowds were able to physically distance during the rally, spreading themselves across the lawn of Confederation Building. There was a small police presence, but no incidents were reported.

A demonstrator holds up a sign during a Black Lives Matter rally at the Confederation Building in St. John’s on Saturday. (Marie Isabelle Rochon/Radio-Canada)

Zainab Jerrett, who came to Newfoundland in the 1990s and is a professor at Memorial University, was one of the speakers on stage and was overwhelmed by the public support.

“That shows that this problem is effecting everybody, and everyone wants to chip in to bring a solution,” Jerrett said. “I almost got emotional because there’s so many people … young people of all cultures in Newfoundland.”

“This is an awakening. The people are interested in listening to the black community” she added. “[But] we are all the same. The more we come together as a human race, the better.”

“I am almost speechless. I am about to cry,” she says. “I feel like I am a Newfoundlander in spirit and soul.” <br><br>The audience yells back at her “you are!” <a href=”https://t.co/rZXj08NvIT”>pic.twitter.com/rZXj08NvIT</a>

People gather outside city hall for a Black Lives Matter Rally in Fort McMurray, Alta., on Saturday. (Jamie Malbeuf/CBC)

London, Ont.

In London, Ont., hundreds gathered at Victoria Park for an anti-racism rally.

Mayor Ed Holder said he supports the purpose behind the rally but declined to attend in person to comply with physical distancing rules recommended by health authorities in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Rally is so big it fits down Queens Street, around the block in both directions. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/LdnOnt?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#LdnOnt</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/BLM?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#BLM</a> <a href=”https://t.co/3a6bzJFVwy”>pic.twitter.com/3a6bzJFVwy</a>

Guelph, Ont.

Volunteers handed out bottles of water and squirts of hand sanitizer to marchers in Guelph, Ont., as thousands of demonstrators descended upon city hall. Organizer took COVID-19 precautions after health officials urged protesters to adhere to public health protocols.

Now, some advocates are calling for police forces to be defunded and taxpayer money to be redirected — a conversation that is also happening in Canada, stemming from the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, a 29-year-old Black and Indigenous woman who fell from her Toronto apartment balcony after police entered the unit.

Police claim they were responding to a reported assault, but the family has questioned the role of the police in her death. The Special Investigations Unit, Ontario’s police watchdog, is currently investigating.

Defunding the police means redirecting the budget for Canada’s police forces to other services that focus on social supports, mental health and even spaces like transit, said Sandy Hudson, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter Toronto and a law student at the University of California, Los Angeles.

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“There’s no reason why we can’t start a service that is another emergency response service where people can call a number and have someone who is trained in de-escalation,” Hudson said.

Now, with more incidents of police brutality in the news, calls for defunding the police both in the U.S. and Canada are louder than ever.

The history of police in Canada

This is hardly the first time defunding the police has been talked about in Canada, experts told Global News.

Examining the way police uphold and participate in anti-Black racism and violence towards Black and Indigenous communities in Canada has been a discussion for decades, said Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga.

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“Part of it is discrimination within policing — both implicit and explicit — but then the other parts of it are how the police operate and what we’re asking police to do,” he said.

The origins of policing in the southern United States were based on preserving the slavery system, as Time magazine reports, and police were primarily tasked with being “slave patrols” to prevent Black slaves from escaping. After the Civil War ended, these patrols still existed to uphold segregation and discrimination towards Black people.

Policing has been used to enforce the dominant narrative in Canada, which is colonization, said Alicia Boatswain-Kyte, a social work professor at McGill University whose research examines systemic oppression.

“These institutions are a product of (colonialism); they stem from that,” she said. “Right now we’re seeing what it looks like at this stage … and it gets manifested in the form of police brutality.”

Mental health, homelessness and other social issues

Experts are concerned that police in Canada are tasked with issues related to poverty, mental health and homelessness, and they are “ill-equipped and an inappropriate resource to be addressing those issues,” Owusu-Bempah said.

The force’s mobile crisis intervention teams ⁠— which include a trained officer and a mental health nurse ⁠— attend only 6,000 of those calls each year because they do not go to calls where a weapon may be involved.

Annual training for the force includes courses on communication and deescalation techniques, said Gray.

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“The Toronto Police Service believes that mental health is a complex issue that requires the involvement of multiple entities, including but not limited to community support, public health, and all levels of government, to render any meaningful change,” she said.

By making police the body available to provide help in these situations, Boatswain-Kyte said, it sends a message that people with those health issues aren’t welcome in our society.

“Regardless of the amount of training … the implicit bias as a result of what (police) have been socialized to believe and understand about the ‘dangers’ of Black and brown bodies is going to influence them at the time when they have to make a decision.”

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Boatswain-Kyte points to a study published in May from Columbia University that found there is “no evidence that enhanced police training focused on mental health crises” can reduce fatal shootings towards those having a mental health crisis, or racialized people in general.

By the numbers

In Toronto, the largest portion of a resident’s property tax bill — around $700 out of an average bill of $3,020 — goes to the Toronto Police Service. The lowest portion of property taxes goes to children’s services, Toronto employment and social services and economic development and culture.

The situation is similar elsewhere in the country, as the Vancouver police budget has grown by more than $100 million in the last decade, representing about one-fifth of the city’s $1.6-billion 2020 operating budget.

A 2014 report published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute found that policing budgets in Canada had doubled compared to the GDP since 2004, even though the public calls to police have “remained stable.”

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“Police associations have been happy to stoke public fears about safety, but the correlation between numbers of officers, crime rates and response times has long been shown to be spurious,” the report said, authored by Christian Leuprecht, a political science professor at Queen’s University and Royal Military College.

Police work that is essentially unrelated to policing could be done by other groups, Leuprecht explains.

Moving forward

Owusu-Bempah is calling on city mayors like Toronto Mayor John Tory to review which roles and functions we want the police to provide and which should be provided by other agencies.

“Then we need a lot of (the) funding currently spent on police … given to other organizations” that are better equipped to help with issues like homelessness and mental illness, he said.

Given the recent incidents of anti-Black racism and brutality perpetuated by police, Hudson says defunding the police would also give agency and safety to Black communities.

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